A study published in the journal Addiction shows that cannabis use among Swedish adolescents follows a similar population-level pattern to teen alcohol use. The study aimed to determine the stability of the frequency of cannabis consumption distribution over time, the synchronization of consumption across user groups, and the relationship between overall use and the prevalence of high-frequency use. The study indicated that changes in average cannabis use among young adults are reflected across the entire group; in other words, these patterns are the same for those who consume cannabis infrequently to more chronic consumers.
The researchers analyzed data from the Swedish Council for Information on Alcohol and Other Drugs’ (CAN) national school surveys that included over 250,000 students aged 15-18 years (in grade 9 and the second year of upper secondary school in Sweden). The researchers examined the frequency of teen cannabis use among those already initiated to cannabis use during adolescence and longitudinal changes in the distribution of use.
The researchers found that the distribution of cannabis use has remained stable over time. The study also showed that periods of higher average use coincide with an increase in the proportion of teens who use cannabis very frequently. This finding is critical because the number of youth at risk of cannabis-related problems rises when average use increases. As study author Dr. Thor Norström explained, “Increases in average use are not driven solely by a small group of heavy users, but by broader changes in behavior among users in general.” The theory based on cannabis research scholarship refers to this social behavior as the total consumption model, which emphasizes that preventive efforts must target an entire population and not be limited to high-risk groups.
The study demonstrated that collective social changes shape adolescent cannabis use and can be used to develop more effective preventive efforts targeting teen cannabis use.
Sources: Addiction, Eureka News Alert
